In Congo, U.N. Forces Near Massacre Site
U.N. peacekeepers are moving deep into a volatile northeast province of Congo to prevent massacres like the one that killed scores this week. Peacekeepers are now setting up at least three permanent countryside deployments in Ituri province, where rampaging tribal fighters this week killed at least 65 people, mainly children, said William Swing, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annanâs special representative for Congo.
"Special" representative as in "special" Olympics?
Members of the 3,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force sent to the region last month had kept permanent bases only in Bunia, Ituriâs capital.
"Hmmm, the âpeacekeepersâ sleep here, so we should be able to murder ân maim to our heartsâ content ... here, here, here and here!"
"Brilliant, just brilliant, boss!"
``Itâs in these well-situated places where we can better control the movement of armed groups and avoid new massacres,ââ Swing told The Associated Press in Kinshasa, Congoâs capital. The United Nations is investigating Mondayâs attack in Katchele, some 40 miles northwest of Bunia, where bodies were found in a mass grave, a church and in the bush surrounding the village.
Expect a sharply-worded denunciation to follow.
U.N. officials have said the victims were from the Hema tribe. Fighters from the rival Lendu tribe are suspected of carrying out the attack. Ituri has been beset by increased fighting between the Hema and Lendu - and massacres and reprisal killings - since 1999, a year after the outbreak of Congoâs recently ended war. The attack Monday was the first reported large-scale killing in Ituri since the beefed-up U.N. force replaced a French-led emergency force on Sept. 1.
That didnât take long.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-10-09 |